“They’re watching us, testing us. We should take it alive,” the Corvus says, and I tilt my head at him.
“We don't need answers. We need it gone.”
The Crux looks between the two of us. “It’s been here longer than us, and there is every chance it’s been searching out the others. It would be useful to know how many we need to find.”
The Soothsayer turns to look at me again, its eyes shining brighter as it calls on its Gift. “We don't need to question it. I'll get the information out of it, and then we can kill it.”
The perfect kind of compromise, one where our enemy is still dead at our feet.
I smile at the Soothsayer, happy and relieved to get my way, and then I follow the Crux as he walks back up the set of stairs, letting my power stretch out over the entire building and the street as I take stock of the souls around us.
“Stop.” I speak before the feeling fully forms in me, the extra senses I have beyond those of the vessel coming alight, and the Crux doesn't hesitate to follow my command.
“What is it?” the Soothsayer asks from downstairs, and I turn back to look over to my Bonded, each of them watching me and trusting that I know best in this situation.
“Something is wrong up there. Something is here for our demise.”
The Soothsayer's eyes flash into the brightest of voids, and I open up the mind connection between us all so that we can see what he can.
The Manipulation god is up there, though we don't have much information from it. The Soothsayer is stronger than any other Neuro, especially now that we've Bonded, but still, the gods can keep him out of their heads if they’ve been here long enough.
There are other Gifted here with it as well, and the moment I realize what she's doing, I tear their souls out, but it's already too late.
As the Flame’s body hits the floor, the building is already alight, the house around her body burning. The shadow creatures move around us, searching for an exit, but the Cleaver shakes his head.
“My vessel has already said there's one way in and one way out. We need the Transporter back here.”
The Soothsayer reaches out, but I already know what the answer is going to be. “There's a Shield keeping him in the Sanctuary. They knew we were coming.”
I shake my head. “They've had a long time to prepare for our arrival on this earth; this is just the first of the traps they will have planned for us.”
The Corvus nods as well. “They will be prepared for our every move. We need to be smarter than this.”
It doesn't matter how smart we need to be in the future. Right now, we need to get out of this building before it burns to the ground around us.
I look down at the rest of my Bonded, and they’re quick to start moving. The Corvus, intent on collecting the information his vessel is so eager for, starts making a pile with the rest of the boxes so that when we’re ready, we can get out of here. We can't take the computer with us, but the paper copies will at least be something.
The vessel is sure it will help, so we will trust him, trust them all to navigate this time period better than we can.
The Crux descends the staircase again, taking my hand and leading me down as the smoke begins to creep underneath the door above us.
“We need to remember that the vessels aren't all indestructible, so we need to deal with this quickly,” the Soothsayer says.
The Cleaver turns his head from side to side as though preparing himself to fight. “Not all of them, but some are, and I am more than ready to face our enemies.”
My net shifts over the Manipulation god, an invisible force ready to take it out. Soon. I will kill it soon, rid the earth of its evil and carve out a new way of living for us all.
I shake my head. “I don't want to be split up like that.”
The Soothsayer glances over at where the Crux is now helping the Corvus with the information, both of them working seamlessly together as though they are cut from the same cloth.
The Soothsayer looks back up the staircase to where the smoke is now starting to come in thick around us, assessing every little thing before he turns back to me. The air is heating up, and we’re quickly running out of time.
“Come with me, Bonded. I might not be able to reach the Transporter, but you can.”
I let my eyes slip shut as I push into my Bonded’s mind, following along with him as he reaches out to the Transporter. The Shield is still in place, but it’s then that I find out what the power boost of the fully Bonded Group has done for me. Thousands of miles away, without ever seeing his face or knowing his name, I tear the Shield’s soul out of his body.
Together, we are indestructible.
